Road to Utopia

Bing and Bob go north.

Released 4 years after Road to Morocco, Road to Utopia proves that the boys hadn’t lost their touch. In fact this is the funniest of all the road pictures. It is also unique to the series in several ways. First it is the only one that takes place in a cold climate (although they do manage to get in a quick shot of Lamour in a sarong), second it is the only time where Bob Hope gets Dorothy Lamour, third this one is narrated by humorist Robert Benchley who pops in and out commenting on the action, and fourth this is the only road trip where Hope and Crosby don't do their famous Patty-cake routine. The movie begins with Bob and Dorothy as an old married couple. They are joined by an old Bing and then we flashback to the turn of the 20th Century where the story proper begins.

Bob and Bing play 5th rate vaudevillians in San Francisco. They wind up on a ship bound for Alaska and get mistaken for a pair of killers with a map to a huge gold mine. The mine originally belonged to Dorothy Lamour’s father who was murdered for it. This movie contains two of the best lines from any of the road pictures. When Bob and Bing fail to win first prize in a talent contest Bob says, “Next time I’m taking Sinatra.” Later when the boys are in a saloon in Alaska posing as the tough killers they order drinks. Bing asks for “a shot of rot-gut”, Bob asks for “lemonade” then quickly realizing his mistake growls, “in a dirty glass.”

Road to Morocco and Road to Utopia marked the absolute peak for the road pictures both financially and critically. Morocco was a spoof of the old Arabian nights movies and Utopia spoofs those North to Alaska gold rush movies. Bing, Bob and Dorothy proved that no matter the climate, whether riding a camel in the desert or mushing a dogsled team in the snow, they knew how to entertain.